


With all their illusions of choices

by hishn_greywalker



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, outside pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-11-07
Updated: 2007-11-07
Packaged: 2018-10-20 20:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10670166
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hishn_greywalker/pseuds/hishn_greywalker
Summary: The Winchester boys when they blow through town, as told by the town gossip.





	With all their illusions of choices

**Author's Note:**

> "any…worth his salt" is an interesting saying, considering the context of salt in this fandom. Title from The Wallflowers. Beta by [](http://justlikeyou.livejournal.com/profile)[justlikeyou](http://justlikeyou.livejournal.com/). First published in Hell Quarterly's winter '07 edition. Written in February.

Old Roy tells me he knew they'd be trouble the minute they walked into his bar. Roy, you know, he's been a bartender a good long time and you know that thing he says all the time, how any bartender worth his salt knows how to pick trouble out right away.

Now, don't let me waste your time if you've already heard about this, but these two boys. They came into Old Roy's place all riled up about somethin', just itchin' for trouble. He says one of 'em, the shorter one, he wasn't belligerent as much as just loud mouthed and excited, too high on the rush of somethin' to care if he was attractin' too much attention and that the other one, he was calmer, but you could tell the rush was there for him too, somethin' in the way he scanned the bar, see, his eyes catchin' on all the usual fighters.

Roy says it was maybe two seconds in and they knew every exit and entrance, plus where all the trouble makers were, who to watch out for and where to sit. Says it didn't mater which one of them was lookin' where, they both just seemed to take it all in too quick to be true.

They ended up settlin' in a corner near the back, at a table with a view of the front door and a straight shot out the back. The tall one settled into his seat, glancing around once more before looking up at the shorter one who looked back for a moment before nodding.

He got both of 'em beers from Roy and went back, sittin' down a little bit to close to the other one. Roy says it didn't stir up too much trouble right then, but it was a rainy and sticky-muggy night – you remember how last Friday was – so he says they and everyone else knew it was gonna.

Happened when Big Joe came in. He's always lookin' for a fight anyways, and always takes exception to just about everyone and everything. When he walked up and started mouthin' off, Roy says they didn't even tense up, just exchanged amused grins.

See, these two boys, they mighta been 100 pounds shy of Joe apiece, but damn if they weren't fighters to the quick. As Roy tells it, Joe didn't even seem to bother them, even as he got more and more worked up.

The shorter one was a smart ass, Roy says, talkin' shit at Joe, his comments hittin' low but not too hard. It took awhile, and Roy doesn't know what exactly was said, but he says Joe musta finally hit a sore spot 'cause the taller one, his face just closed off and he snapped out somethin' in a real low voice, makin' Joe's fists fly.

Joe never touched the kid though. The other one blocked him, was standing in front of him and ready to take him on faster than anything. The kid, the other one, was grinning. Roy says as the shorter one started in on Joe, and the other, he just laughed, callin' out "40 on my boy!"

 

 

Now, here, listen to this. You know how Suzanne's been runnin' the night shift at the motel on her own for the last few years? Yeah, well, she told me last night that these two boys she'd never seen before, swear t'God, stumbled into the office late Friday night. The shorter of the two was a little roughed up, and both of them were high off of whatever fight they'd just been in. Ol' Suzanne was restin' behind the counter then, and the two of them, she says they scared her a bit. But the boys had cash and they were laughin' about somethin', grinnin' at each other, so she sold them a room.

The two boys, they stumbled back out of the office, the taller one wrapping an arm around the other one's waist, keepin' him from knockin' into the doorframe. Suzanne says the shorter one laughed then, shovin' the taller one off of him and almost landin' in poor Suzanne's box of Marigolds. Think she was more upset about that then anything else, you know.

Those two boys from the bar? Yeah, yeah. I think it was them too.

 

 

Anna was tellin' me just yesterday about how two boys wandered in to her diner Saturday morning. It's just across the street from the motel, so it stands to reason she was talkin' 'bout those same two as Suzanne. Says they sat there, eating like they didn't know when their next meal was gonna be. Little MayBeth, she just turned 20 last week remember, she was over at their table more often than enough, flirtin' and talkin'. Her daddy was over in the corner like he is every Saturday, watchin' them.

Now, these two boys, they didn't know that, but they wouldn'ta cared anyways, most likely. The shorter one, he flirted with MayBeth, chatting her up a bit, but it wasn't anything serious, Anna says. The girl might have wanted it, and Anna says she didn't blame her one bit, but those two boys, they only had eyes for each other she says.

Oh, maybe not like that, but maybe it was. Real protective like, nonetheless. The taller one watched real carefully when the other one went out for a smoke, and when the taller one went off to the back, the shorter one, apparently he ignored MayBeth near completely.

They didn't let the other one know, of course. Anna says the taller one pulled out his cell phone when the other one was comin' back in, and the shorter one started chattin' up MayBeth quick like when the other one came back.

Later, when they were done, they stood in the parking lot talkin'. The shorter one leaned back against the car, scuffing a boot in the gravel and smoking another cigarette. The taller one stood in front of him, his hands stuffed in his pockets, eyes trained on the other. Anna said she couldn't hear 'em, but the shorter one, he said somethin' that made the other one laugh. Says when he managed it, his whole face lit up like his only purpose in life was to make the other guy happy.

Anna told me she made sure MayBeth's daddy knew that the napkin with her number on it was left on the table with a real nice tip, just incase.

 

 

Now, you remember my nephew Tim, livin' a couple of towns over and runnin' that Army surplus store that his daddy left him. He says two boys came through there last Saturday afternoon. Says they were hunters, he's just not sure what kind. See, he's been runnin' the place since his daddy died back in '87 and been workin' there since he could see over he counter, not that my sister ever really liked the idea of him bein' there.

So when he tells me they were hunters, I'm like as not gonna believe him. He's seen every type of hunter you can imagine, and says these two were probably bounty hunters of some kind but maybe not, maybe somethin' else altogether. Whatever they were though, they were hunters.

He says he just watched them as they wandered around the store. They didn't always stay side by side, but he says he'd bet big money that they always knew where the other one was. He says he's seen partners like that before, usually just this side of bein' on the right side of the law, bounty hunter's mostly, like as not partners for the last twenty years.

Says he's never seen any that were even close to bein' as young as these guys though, and somethin' about their age near gave him the chills. Says these two, they musta grown up in the life, movin' and huntin'. Called 'em gunslingers.

Despite all this, he says when they came up to the counter they were nearly friendly, carrying a haul he'd know anywhere. It was one that was nearly always the same, life on the road in a bundle, all things you might need if you didn't have a place to run to.

One of them, he says, the taller of the two, caught his eye on a knife behind the glass. The shorter one grinned at that and gave Tim a nod to pull the thing out. Now, weapons are weapons and a knife's a knife to me, but Tim, he was real impressed by the kid's ability to pick out one of the best of his stock with such a quick glance.

The first word he heard out of them was the soft words that the kid spoke as he held the knife, his hand wrapping around it like it was meant for him. The other guy just laughed, but when they walked out, they took the knife with them. Tim says he knows for a fact that kid could use it better than he ever would be able to.

 

 

Turns out that earlier that Friday two boys pulled up at that truck stop not too far out of town in a mighty nice lookin' car. The truck stop was pretty much empty, Jim says, and the sun was just settin'. Both the boys, they tumbled out of the car shaking activity back into their bodies like they'd been in the car just a little too long.

Now, Jim, he's been workin' that stop since he stopped truckin' a couple of years back, so he's seen a few people pass through. These two, they weren't any different really, except maybe they had a little bit of an edge.

The driver fueled the car up and the taller kid walked the isles, gatherin' a few things here and there. By the time the other guy walked up behind him at the counter, his hand brushin' across the other guys back, Jim says he'd thought he'd already had their number.

"You get everything, Sammy?" the guy asked, and the other just nodded. Jim could remember his words 'cause he wasn't really askin' that question, but somethin' else he couldn't understand.

It wasn't an odd stash, nothing Jim says he hasn't seen time and time again. A couple of bags of M&Ms, some Skittles, a couple of Big Hunks. Cheetos, Doritos, and some sodas. There was a quart of oil and a gallon of pre-mixed radiator fluid. The other guy looked it over and nodded back.

The shorter guy paid for that and the gas, and the taller guy took everything but the stuff for the car, which the other grabbed. As they left, the shorter guy said something, making them both laugh.

Jim says he's not sure what he was first thinkin' was right. Says he doesn't know if they were the kind of people he was thinkin' they were. But he says he's damn sure he saw a gun under the shorter guy's coat and knew for a fact that that was what was at the small of the other guy's back, under his sweatshirt.

And ain't that the thing? Sounds just like those boys who showed up that night, though no one else saw the guns.


End file.
